And, you could always use turkey or chicken fillets instead of lamb – use chicken stock instead of beef if you do!
A SUPER SEA BASS SPECIAL!
3Lemon Chicken, yes, but nicely different!
0So many recipes out there for lemon chicken but this one is a cracker and simple and subtly different,
INGREDIENTS
FOR 4
FLOUR TO COAT CHICKEN / 4 SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS SLICED IN HALF LENGTHWAYS /
2 TBSP OLIVE OIL / 4 SPRINGS OF FRESH THYME / 6 SHALLOTS FINELY CHOPPED/ 3 CLOVES GARLIC FINELY CHOPPED / GRATED ZEST OF ONE LEMON / JUICE OF SAME LEMON / 200 ML GOOD CHICEKN STOCK / 50 GM BUTTER
METHOD
- Season flour with salt and pepper then dredge the chicken pieces through it.
- Heat oil in a large skillet – I used a stainless steel paella pan – add chicekn and fry gently until lightly browned – about 5 minutes per side, nothing more.
- Remove and pop to one side on a plate.
- Add thyme, shallots, garlic and cook for a minute or two until soft but take care to keep it all moving as you don’t want the garlic to burn – add a tiny more olive oil if you need too.
- Then add the zest and juice of the lemon, stir in, then add the chickenn stock.
- Stir it and as it lightly bubbles add the chicken back in to the pan, flip after a minute or two, then add the butter and stir it in to the sauce. Sprinkle a little more black pepper over the chicken then let it soak up the flavours for another minute or two before serving over a gorgeous pile of buttery, creamy mashed potatoes. Then pour over the shallot and lemon sauce.
I promise you – this is wonderful.
Summer Pizzaiola Bagels
1
INGREDIENTS FOR TWO PEOPLE
2 BAGELS HALVED AND TOASTED LIGHTLY / HALF A WHITE ONION CHOPPED FINELY / HANDFUL OF BLACK OLIVES SLICED -rinsed if from a can / TBSP CAPERS / CAN OF TUNA / MAYO / PINCH OF DRIED OREGANO / PINCH OF DRIED CRUSHED RED CHILLIS / 8 CHERRY TOMATOES SLICED CHOPPED (discard the seeds) BALSAMIC VINEGAR / OLIVE OIL / PARSLEY CHOPPED – OR YOU COULD USE CORIANDER / SALT AND BLACK PEPPER
METHOD
Add onion to a bowl plus the capers, olives, tuna, oregano, dried chilli, parsley and tomatoes. Add mayo – enough until you get a nice smooth mixture when you stir all the ingredients gently together. Season lightly.
Add a swirl of olive oil to each half of the toasted bagels. Top with equal amounts of the pizzaiola mixture then add a swirl of balsamic vinegar or balsamic crema.
A wonderful light summer lunch!
Lentil Bolognaise
8
This is a really tasty dish and a fab way to eat lentils. An idea of Nigel Slater’s.
For 4
2 carrots finely diced
1 onion finely sliced
3 tbsps of olive oil
230 gm Puy lentils (or any green ones will do if you cannot get Puy)
1 litre of chicken stock or veg stock
400 gm pappardelle or tagliatelle pasta
2 tbsps crème fraîche
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
50 gm lardons – you could leave these out if you wish – esp. vegetarians!
Heat the oil in a pan – I used a non stick wok – and fry the onion and carrot until both are soft and the carrot lightly browned.
Rinse the lentils then add to the pan. Stir and add the stock
Lower the heat and simmer for around 35 – 40 minute until the lentils are just soft. Season with a little salt. Cook the pasta. Whilst this is happening remove half the lentil mixture, including liquid and add to a blender. Blizt to a puree. Return it to the pan. Stir it in along with the crème fraîche and the balsamic vinegar. I then pan fried the lardons separately and added them also.
This is a really cheap and satisfying dish. It tastes, as Nigel Slater says, wonderfully ‘earthy’ and I cannot tell you how amazing the flavour is considering how basic the ingredients are – it is a marvellous example of the the alchemy of food!
Please, please make this!
FISH TAGINE
0
INGREDIENTS – FOR TWO PEOPLE
- 2 cod fillets / haddock or any white fish of choice, skinned
- 200 ml fish stock
- 1 teaspoon paprika – picante not dulce
- 1 teaspoon of zatar
- 1 fresh red chilli-deseeded and cut into strips
- 250 gm chick peas rinsed
- 2 carrots halved then cut into 4 batons each
- 1 small white onion
- 1 long red pepper, deseeded and cut into small pieces
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped
- Olive oil
- 4 cherry tomatoes
- Salt and black pepper
METHOD
Preheat oven to 150c.
Pan fry the onions, garlic, red pepper and carrots in a good splash of olive oil until the onions a soft. Add the chick peas and chilli strips and heat through for another minute or so. Then add the tomatoes, halved, and stir in. Sprinkle over the zatar. Cook for another few minutes stirring gently.
Add to a tagine.
Season the fillets with salt and black pepper. Then in the same pan gently fry the fillets for about two minutes either side – you are not cooking them right through, just colouring the outsides. Then add hot fish stock to your vegetables in the tagine – it should not swamp the veg, just about cover it. Lay the fillets on top. Sprinkle over the paprika.
Pop the tagine lid on and place in the oven – you can leave it for up to two hours to absorb the flavours but it should be fine after an hour if you are in a hurry!
Thi sis so wonderful – I love playing about with these types of recipes and i created this based on other meat dishes I had cooked. I made a vegetable tagine recently that was similar to this – minus the fish of course – and with ras el hanout instead of zatar, no paprika and vegetable stock instead of fish. I used an aubergine (eggplant) diced, courgettes, sliced and half mooned, cubed butternut squash, onions, peppers – you can use anything! Key with the veg one is to pop all veg, minus the onions, in a large bowl, add splashes of olive oil, then the ras el hanout and coat it well before frying.
Enjoy amigos!!
Slow Cooked Red Cabbage with Chicken
4
Seriously tasty and well worth the time and effort – a dish for a cold snap, full of wintery flavours and scents. And so adaptable to any meat really.
INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp olive oil / 1 kg chicken – I used breasts skin on but legs or thighs would work / 1 large brown onion sliced / 2 cloves of garlic sliced / 1 red cabbage sliced / 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar / 1 tbsp dark brown sugar / 1 tsp all spice / Zest and juice of 1 orange / 300 ml chicken stock / 250 ml red wine / fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 200c fan 180c
- Heat the oil in a large casserole dish. Add the onion and garlic. Cover with lid and cook gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the cabbage, balsamic vinegar, sugar and all spice. Cook for a further 5 minutes.
- Pour over the orange juice and zest, red wine and stock and bring to the boil. Cover with lid and transfer to the oven for 1 hour and ten minutes.
- After an hour pan fry the chicken skin side down til it is coloured.
- When red cabbage mixture is ready, remove from oven, take lid off and nestle your chicken pieces in the cabbage. Reduce oven to 180 c / 160c fan, then pop casserole back in the oven uncovered for 30 minutes til the chicken is golden and cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and scatter the parsley over the dish – serve with creamy mashed potatoes, or dauphinoise potatoes. Drizzle any spare juices over the potatoes. Fabulous!
Coconut Dream Chicken
3
This dish is a take on the standard Thai chicken curry but for me, it packs more flavour and has a tropical touch. It is based on a recipe from the BBC Good Food magazine and I strongly recommend you to try it! Simple to cook though you need to get all your prep done carefully first so it is all ready to go!
SERVES 4-6
INGREDIENTS
Oil of choice
8 skin on bone in chicken thighs
1 large onion roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
3 cm piece of ginger peeled and grated
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin powder
3 green chillies halved deseeded and finely chopped
200 gm butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cubed
150 gm cauliflower florets broken up
225 gm Basmati rice
Bunch of coriander chopped
2 limes zested and juiced
400 ml coconut milk
400 ml chicken stock
METHOD
- Heat oven to 200C / 180 c fan. Heat a good splash of oil in a shallow casserole or high sided pan that can go in the oven I use a stoneware one, see pic, which is ideal. Fry chicken thighs skin side down til well coloured then remove and put to one side. They will take on a deeper colour in the oven so do not fret. Fry the onion in the same pan til soft and coloured- add the garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin and chilli. Cook for 2 minutes, then stir in the cauliflower and squash. Add the rice, half the coriander, the lime zest and half the lime juice and a little seasoning. Put the chicken back in the pan on top skin side up this time! Add a little more black pepper to them.
- Heat the coconut milk and stock together gently til just about to boil then pour this around the chicken. Pop the pan uncovered into the oven for 40 minutes or until the liquid has been more or less absorbed and the rice is as you like it. Remove from the oven and add the remaining lime juice and coriander, mixing it in a little amongst the chicken. Serve and enjoy!
Appetising artichokes!
0
This is a popular first course at my local bar in Malasaña. (Click on the link to see my barrio !)
Alcachofas a plancha con jamón iberico.
It is so easy to replicate at home and really really tasty.
All you need is a good tin of artichokes – if not ready sliced, drain them well and slice. Get around 50 gm to 100 gm of, if possible, jamón iberico diced, if not any decent lardon cubed or even cubed pancetta.
Pan fry the jamón in olive oil for a minute or two then add the artichoke and warm through. No need for seasoning at this point, but taste in case and by all means add a pinch of salt.
Serve and add a few grinds of black pepper and serve with crusty bread.
Muy bueno!
Recommended Madrid Tapas and Wine Tour!
0
Check this link BELOW to the page of Andres Jarabo – Madrid Tapas and Wine Tour – this is his bio – a really enterprising guy who is providing a quality product in the wine and tapas tour field – I will report back more after the weekend but I highly recommend it when you are in Madrid next.
‘In 2ooo I posted a message on a travel board inviting people visiting Madrid to join myself and my friends on a tapas night. I didn’t expect anyone to write back but James and Chris, two Americans, did. The experience fascinated me, I was hooked!
I noticed what an important part of the experience wine was and started taking wine tasting courses. Now I work full-time in the wine sector. I am a member of the Spanish Wine Tasting Association and offer the only food tour in Spain that pairs tapas with award-winning wines from a private cellar.’
I am so impressed with people who do this and no doubt everyone learns a great deal from Andres.
Pics and report to follow!! CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT ANDRES WEB SITE!!
RECOMMENDED TAPAS & WINE TOUR IN MADRID!
From Alfredo's With Love 